


Escaping the Closet

by Mimi_loves_entertainment



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Secret Crush, doesn’t last very long, love this show, so adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27326707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimi_loves_entertainment/pseuds/Mimi_loves_entertainment
Summary: A short little fluff piece about Alex coming out to his band mates.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 128





	Escaping the Closet

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoy. This didn’t take me all that long and frankly I had a lot of fun writing it.
> 
> Also I love Alex, Luke, and Reggie. They are my children.

It took Alex a while to figure out who, or what, he was. There was barely any representation in television and books; if there was, it wasn’t good. Alex’s “awakening” happened when he was 15. He was rewatching one of his favorite movies, Newsies, on television. It was a great movie, all things considered, but after the first couple of watches, he started realizing a couple of things. For example, he had a sort of infatuation with one character, in particular, Spot Conlon. He didn’t think much of it at first. It was completely normal that he paused every time he was on screen to admire him, right?

Then one day, he was at band practice with his friends Luke, Reggie, and Bobby; well, not a ‘practice’ considering he was the only one practicing. While he was running through his part in the chorus of their new song, the other boys were ogling over some magazine. After about 5 minutes, Alex finally rolled his eyes and joined them on the old, yet comfortable couch.

“What exactly are you guys doing? Aren’t we supposed to be practicing?” He asked. Peering over Reggie’s shoulder, he sees a large photo of the cast of Beverly Hills 90210 smiling back at him. More specifically, the ladies in the cast. 

“You guys, I’m telling you, Jennifer is fly!” Luke said, the slight crack in his voice indicating that puberty wasn’t quite done with him yet. 

“Slow your roll, dog, Tori is where it’s at! Are you blind?” Bobby argued.

“Don’t make me give you another wet willy, Bob,” Luke warned. 

“I don’t know how you all can just choose one,” Reggie spoke up. “They’re all gorgeous.”

“What do you think, Alex?” Luke asked without looking up. 

All of a sudden, Alex felt a little out of his depth. He was too busy analyzing the questionable color themes that were chosen in the photoshoot to notice the girls at all. 

He cleared his throat and took about 5 seconds to look at the girl's faces before saying, “I agree with Reg. They’re all really... pretty. I like Tori’s... dress.”

Bobby, who had only been with the boys for about 3 months, shot Alex an odd look, before looking back down.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Luke agreed. “It does bring out her eyes.” Alex released the breath he didn’t know he was holding and got up from the couch, suddenly uncomfortable. He walked back to the stool his drum set and sat down. As he looked over the boys, he recognized the look of admiration and desire they all had on their faces while looking at the girls. Kind of like the one he had had when he was gazing upon good old Spot Conlon.

...

Oh, shoot.

************************

After Alex had taken a couple of weeks to confirm his growing suspicions about himself, he proceeded to shove the information so deep down inside, not even Nancy Drew could find it. He started closing himself off to others as a result, for fear of accidentally revealing his truth. It didn’t take long for him to realize that he wasn’t that good of an actor.

“Is everything ok, Alex? You’ve been acting kinda... strange lately.”

Alex almost fainted right there and then. He began twiddling his drumsticks anxiously as Luke looked on at him with concern.

“Nah, man. I’m chill.”

“You sure? I’m just saying, those sticks may not survive the next thirty seconds if you don’t take it easy.”

Alex immediately stopped fidgeting and sheepishly put his hands behind his back, holding the sticks tight. 

“It’s just stress, you know? I have a paper about Clinton's inauguration due in a couple of days and a Shakespeare test tomorrow.“

“Oh, that sucks. But hey, if you need any help, go to Reggie. He’s surprisingly an expert when it comes to Shakespeare.” Alex smiled at him, but on the inside, he felt super bad. Technically he wasn’t lying, but he didn’t like keeping things from his friends. 

“Thanks, man,” Alex said to Luke, maintaining the smile on his face. 

“Anytime,” Luke said, staring at him with his big blue eyes. “Seriously, Alex. Bottling stuff up makes everything worse. You know you can talk to us, right?” Alex nodded silently. Then Luke smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. And it was at that moment that Alex knew he was in trouble. He suddenly felt warm all over, and the only thing keeping him grounded was the strong hand on his shoulder.

“Come on,” Luke said. “Let’s go set up before the guys get here.” He removed his hand and Alex immediately missed the warmth. As Luke walked away, Alex began chanting in his head: I don’t have a crush on Luke. I don’t have a crush on Luke. I don’t have a crush on Luke.

************************

This was his first real crush, and frankly, no matter how weird or inappropriate it was, he wanted to savor it. So he scribbled Luke’s name in his notebook and he stared at him for an uncomfortable amount of time. He even took time out of his day to daydream about him.

The crush itself didn’t last very long. It went away shortly after Alex saw Luke and Reggie do one of their disgusting burping contests. He wasn’t really sad about it, more so relieved that it was so short-lived. 

Then one afternoon, a few short weeks later, when Alex, Reggie, and Luke were just hanging out together in the garage, Bobby burst in saying, “You guys, I’ve just met the greatest most amazing girl on the entire planet.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? Who?”

“This new girl Rebecca, she just moved here from NYC. Guys, she is my soulmate,” Bobby gushed.

“Dang, she must be something special for cool-as-a-cucumber Bobby to take an interest,” Alex joked.

“Oh yeah. I invited her to hang out at the arcade with me, and she almost beat me at ALL the games we played.” Bobby plopped down on the couch with a dopey grin on his face. 

Reggie laughed. “They say video games are the way to a man’s heart.”

“Nah, man. My dream girl would be into music for sure, no questions asked,” Luke added. 

The guys chimed in on the qualities they would want in a girl. Alex commented enough to seem like he was engaged in the conversation, but in reality, his thoughts were miles away. Wouldn’t it be great if Alex could just barge in and talk to the guys about his crush of the day? Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case, but why couldn’t it be? He hadn’t known Bobby for long, sure, but Reggie and Luke had been by his side since elementary school. He could just start with them. How hard could it be?

************************

It was very hard. It took Alex a full week to figure out what he was gonna say. He almost wrote it down, but he watched enough Rosanne to know that nothing stayed secret for long. Eventually, he built up the courage to do it. He waited until his mom was in the middle of doing the dishes and his dad was at least 20 minutes into his football game. He went to the landline and called up Reggie first, then Luke. He told them the same thing: “Emergency band meeting. Well, minus Bobby. I kind of need to tell you something... important.”

After ensuring that they both agreed to the meeting, he went downstairs and put on his coat. “I have to go meet up with the guys for a few. I promise to be back before curfew.”

His mother peaked her head out from the kitchen. “No problem, honey, we trust you. Be careful, it’s getting kind of dark.”

“Would you mind picking up a bag of Doritos on your way back? Your mother keeps finishing them,” his dad called out from the couch.

“Love you too, honey,” his mom responded, sticking her tongue out knowing full well that he couldn’t see her.

“Sure,” Alex called back. As he closed the door behind him, he smiled to himself. He should probably tell his parents soon. They’d be cool with it. 

After parking his bike outside the garage, Alex went over what he was going to say in his head. He began pacing back and forth. The moment he heard the garage door open, he stopped pacing and rubbed his hands on his pants, suddenly feeling very nervous. 

Both Reggie and Luke walked in at the same time, and they looked equally... upset. 

Uh oh.

“Uh, did I do something?” Alex asked tentatively.

Luke groaned loudly. “It’s not you. My mom is suffocating me. It’s like she doesn’t want me to succeed. It’s so frustrating, she just doesn’t understand. And it’s not like my dad’s ever gonna take my side, because Lord FORBID he goes against my mom.” Alex knew that Luke’s relationship with his parents had been strained ever since they started the band over a year ago. 

“I’m sorry dude,” Alex said, not sure how to console him.

“I know,” Luke said solemnly. Then he nodded his head towards Reggie. “His parents got into it again.” Alex looked upon said boy with concern. When Reggie was happy, he was talkative and smile. But when he was angry or upset, he tended to be quieter and more reserved. Now, he was just looking down at his feet, kicking at the carpet.

“Are you gonna be okay, Reg?” Alex asked. 

The boy looked at him then. “Yeah... I’ll be fine. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

He looks at his two best friends and makes up his mind. He can’t tell them tonight. Right now, they needed dependable Alex. Stable Alex. He wasn’t gonna ruin their night by telling them something they may or may not want to hear.

Just as he was about to suggest they wander the streets of LA, maybe grab a couple of street dogs while they were at it, Luke cleared his throat.

“Hey, you had something to tell us, right? What’s up?”

Alex shook his head. “Nah, it can wait.”

Reggie facepalmed suddenly. “I’m sorry, dude. We’ve been asses to you. What did you want to tell us? Is it a new song idea?”

Luke brightened up immensely at the mention of music. Alex watched the boys look on at him with hopeful expressions. He doesn’t know why he does it, but he feels himself nodding to Reggie’s question. “Uh... yeah. Just give me a minute.” 

He turned his back to his friends and his hands began to sweat. What the hell was he gonna do? He grabbed the acoustic guitar in the corner and put the strap around his shoulders. Just as he was about to come clean and tell the guys that he didn’t actually have a song, an idea popped his head. And then, he started strumming.

He wasn’t as good as Luke or Reggie were at the guitar, but he wasn’t the worst. Against his better judgment, he played a basic tune while sang a few impromptu lines.

Everyone has secrets  
Something they don’t want to reveal  
Like some bad decision  
Or the emotions they feel

Alex paused for a moment. He looked up at his friends.

I have a secret  
I hope that you understand  
Please don’t get angry  
Or kick me out of the band

“Alex, what are you...” Luke started, but then Reggie interrupted him.

“Dude, shut up and listen,” he whispered under his breath.

We’ve all had one hell of a day  
So I’m just gonna come right out and say  
That I think I might be…gay

Alex immediately stopped playing the guitar but continued to hold onto it. 

Reggie’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, while Luke’s eyebrows shot off his face in shock. None of the boys said anything.

After the song, it was silent for what seemed like an eternity but was only about 2 minutes. Unsurprisingly, the one to break this silence was Reggie.

“Wait, do you mean gay as in... you like guys?” Reggie asked.

Luke looked at him like he was crazy. “What kind of question was that?! What else would Alex mean by, ‘I’m gay’? Honestly, Reggie.”

“Ok, well I’m sorry, O’ wise one,” Reggie responded snarkily. “I wasn’t aware that questions were illegal. And it’s not like you were gonna say anything... smartass.”

“You guys, stop,” Alex said firmly.

“Sorry,” both boys muttered under their breath.

Then Luke looked up and asked, “How long have you known?”

Alex directed his gaze towards the carpet, “A couple of months, now.”

“And you were really afraid we were gonna kick you out of the band because you like guys?”

“I don’t know, Luke! Maybe I was scared. No, I am scared. Terrified even. Do you know how many gay people get beaten up every day in California, just by being themselves? There are homophobic people everywhere. Heck, even in our own school! So yeah, I was scared to death of telling you guys. But you’re my best friends and I hate keeping things from you two. So if you’re gonna crush my spirit, please do it now so I can get home and stuff my face with vanilla ice cream.”

“Ew, chocolate is so much better,” Reggie says underneath his breath.

“Don’t be stupid,” Alex warned.

Luke and Reggie looked at each other for a moment before crossing the room towards Alex.

“Thank you for telling us. I know that was difficult,” Luke said.

“Yeah. Just remember that we’re family no matter what, alright? And that you’re awesome,” Reggie added. 

“Alex, the only way you’re getting out of this band is if you die. You’re stuck with us for life.”

Alex smiled and willed the tears that were threatening to spill over to remain inside. “Thank you, guys. That means a lot.”

“So now that it’s been established that Alex is the bestest friend ever and we love him, I’ve got a serious question to ask,” Luke said. He turned to Alex. “Who’s more attractive, me or Reg?”

“Oh shut up Luke. It doesn’t a gay guy to answer this simple of a question,” Reggie snapped. “Even Bobby knows the answer, and he flirts with every girl who crosses his path.”

“Ok fair enough,” Luke said, hands raised. “But then again, your name is Reginald, so expect an automatic five-point deduction.”

“You know what, that’s it,” Reggie declared. “WET WILLIE TIME!!” And then, he pounced.

Alex was... well completely lost, to be honest. But then Reggie looked at him and yelled, “Help me hold him down!”

For five whole minutes, they wrestled on the ground like they were 10-year-olds. Finally, they stopped and just laid on their backs, breathing hard as they looked at the ceiling.

“You guys, that was the most childish thing we’ve done in years,” Alex said breathlessly.

“Yeah. It was awesome,” Reggie said.

“Alex,” Luke said, turning his head slightly to look towards him. “Are you planning to tell your parents or Bobby?”

Alex took a deep breath before responding. “To be honest, I’m not sure. In the back of my head, I always knew that you and Reggie would be the easiest people to tell, you know? I haven’t known Bobby for that long, and my parents... I just don’t know.”

“Hey.” Luke reached out his hand to grab Alex’s left hand, and he squeezed. “Just know that you have us no matter what, okay.”

“Luke’s right. I’m usually a pretty chill guy, but if I need to beat someone up, you let me know,” Reggie chimed in.

“Good to know,” Alex said, rolling his eyes. He then grabbed Reggie’s hand with his free one. “That’s a problem for tomorrow, though. Tonight, we roll around the floor like stupid teenage boys.”


End file.
